We Ranked the 15 Most Shocking Game of Thrones Deaths so Far

Game of Thrones fans’ relationship to the show was defined by the Red Wedding. That singular moment in "The Rains of Castamere" from season three instantly devastated viewers—especially the non-book fans who didn’t see it coming—and intrigued everyone else, helping the HBO fantasy series propel itself to the most talked-about program currently on TV.

But that was hardly a fluke. In the same vein of author George R.R. Martin’s source material, HBO's Game of Thrones has no qualms about extinguishing its most beloved (or otherwise) characters. As we approach the eighth and final season premiering April 14, in which many more heads are sure to quite literally roll, we’ve ranked the most rattling deaths we’ve seen so far.

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15. Lysa

Lysa was pretty awful, even by the standards of the extremely awful Littlefinger, but I still jumped off my couch when Littlefinger quickly and callously threw her out her own Moon Door. Also, making a floor opening with an epically lethal fall a central design piece in your castle is itself shocking and terrible.

14. Shae

It’s hard to dislike Tyrion Lannister, who is hyper-intelligent, for the most part noble, and extremely witty. Which made it all the more uncomfortable to watch him kill his own love, even if she did betray him. (Watching Tyrion kill his own cretinous dad, however, felt like a relief.)

13. Ros

The death of Ros at the hands of Evil Boy King Joffrey was made all the worse by the way Littlefinger orchestrated it, and then even worse with that vile image of her shot full of arrows.

12. Rickon Stark

Poor, poor Rickon. If anyone didn’t deserve it, it was Rickon. And the way in which he went down, with Ramsay pretending to let him go and then shooting him with an arrow in the back, was truly heinous.

11. Viserys Targaryen

Daenerys’ brother was a grade-A dick. But it was hard to anticipate that he would literally be burned alive by molten gold poured on his head. We rooted for the death, and then had to look away.

10. The Guy Eaten Alive by Rats

HBO

The description is self-explanatory. This was just… gross.

9. Ramsay Bolton

Again, not really a shock that perhaps the most evil resident of Westeros (which is really saying something) met a violent end. But the way in which Sansa fed him to his own dogs, and the look of unadulterated satisfaction on her face, was still chill-inducing.

8. Jon Snow

The fact that very perceptive viewers and book readers caught on that this might not be Jon Snow’s last breath didn’t dull the initial surprise of his being stabbed by traitorous members of the Night’s Watch. But let’s be real: We all kinda had a feeling the Noble One would be resurrected.

7. Hodor

Hodor’s death happened largely offscreen, but that didn’t stop Game of Thrones fans crying inconsolably, especially as he died in an act of heroism (and we got a name origin explanation out of the whole thing).

6. Oberyn Martell

For all of his misplaced chutzpah, Oberyn was a pretty fun and charming character. What really sealed this death in the Game of Thrones Death Hall of Fame, however, was watching and listening to The Mountain crushing his opponent’s skull with his bare hands.

5. The Baratheons

Stannis aside, it was heart-wrenching to see the family give in to burning their own daughter, leading Selyse to commit suicide in a fittingly tragic chapter.

4. Ned Stark

These days, the beheading of a beloved Game of Thrones character is practically par for the course. But back in season one, naive viewers could hardly stomach witnessing Ned Stark’s decapitation while Arya watched.

3. The (Many) Sept of Baelor Explosion Victims

Cersei was clearly up to something, and the use of wildfire to destroy all her enemies was genius in a villainous Cersei kind of way. But what shaked so many viewers in this sequence was, as with the Red Wedding, the sheer number of casualties. And who doesn’t miss Margaery Tyrell?

2. The Red Wedding Victims

There was too much to be devastated by when the Red Wedding took place. The massacre happened amid what seemed, at least for those not clued in, like a lovely candlelit wedding. Then it was simply a flood of unspeakable violence: a knife to Catelyn Stark’s throat, blood spewing forth; a pregnant and screaming Talisa being stabbed. It was the Game of Thrones death scene heard around the world, and nearly topped all else...

1. Tommen

...Until Game of Thrones somehow outdid its season-three apex in the death department. The wildfire assassination would’ve been enough, but the cruel irony of Cersei setting her enemies aflame only to cause her last living child—young and at least relatively innocent—to jump from a window was too much to bear. It only served to underline the poison that runs through so much of the Lannister family like some sort of godsent force.

Paul SchrodtPaul Schrodt is a freelance writer and editor who also contributes to Esquire, GQ, Money, The Wall Street Journal, and more.

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